Alleged serial rapist charged in 4 additional cases, bringing total to 9

A Ham Lake man suspected in numerous sexual assaults in southeast Minneapolis has now been charged in connection to nine separate cases, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday.

Jory Wiebrand, 34, was first charged April 20 in connection to a sexual assault case and a burglary case in the Dinkytown and Marcy-Holmes neighborhoods, which were the first of what police said would be a series of charges against Wiebrand.

On May 5, Wiebrand was charged in three cases related to sexual assault, burglary and harassment, at which time the attorney's office said "additional charges are likely forthcoming."

On May 7, Wiebrand was charged in four additional cases that occurred between February 2019 and March of this year. In the new cases, Wiebrand faces charges that include criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, stalking, criminal sexual predatory conduct and false imprisonment.

The nine cases for which Wiebrand has been charged span five years. The incident dates and the charges he faces are:

• March 23, 2015, incident: Charged on May 5 with first-degree criminal sexual conduct
• Aug. 4, 2018: Charged on May 5 with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and first-degree burglary
• Feb. 8, 2019: Charged on May 7 with attempted first-degree criminal sexual conduct
• May 1, 2019-Nov. 20, 2019: Charged on May 7 with harassment
• June 2, 2019: Charged on April 20 with first-degree burglary and criminal predatory conduct
• Aug. 7, 2019: Charged on April 20 with first-degree criminal sexual assault and first-degree burglary assault
  
• Sept. 12, 2019: Charged on May 7 with attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct
• Jan. 3, 2020: Charged on May 5 with harassment and invasion of privacy
• March 1, 2020: Charged on May 7 with attempted first-degree criminal sexual conduct

New charges

1st case

According to the new criminal complaints, on Feb. 8, 2019, Minneapolis police were dispatched to the 600 block of 8th Street in southeast Minneapolis on a report of a sexual assault.

The victim said she was walking to a bus stop when she was attacked by a man and dragged to a nearby wooded area where she was sexually assaulted. A neighbor startled the suspect, who ran off. 

DNA collected from a tissue the victim used to wipe the cuts she sustained in the attack was compared against Wiebrand's known sample, the complaint says. He is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, second-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping in connection to this incident.

2nd case

The next alleged incident was reported in April 2020, when police were investigating Wiebrand and his Ham Lake home was searched. Investigators found an ID card for an unknown victim. Police contacted the victim, who said she doesn't know Wiebrand and never gave him her ID.

She said between May 1, 2019, and Nov. 30, 2019, she was being followed by an unknown person while living on the 700 block of 4th Street in southeast Minneapolis, the criminal complaint said.

In July 21, the victim said she came home to her apartment and noticed her window was open, which she had kept closed. The victim moved out of her apartment on Aug. 5. Two days later, the complaint says Wiebrand went into another apartment via an unlatched window in the same complex and sexually assaulted a woman.

Upon moving out on Aug. 5, the victim relocated to a new home on the 700 block of 10th Avenue in southeast Minneapolis, where she would park her vehicle in an outdoor parking lot. In November 2019, she walked to her vehicle for an overnight work shift when she was followed by Wiebrand, the complaint says. In February of this year, Wiebrand assaulted a woman in the same lot, the complaint says.

The complaint notes the victim is in her early 20s and the victims in the other cases are women in their late teens and early 20s, adding "the nature of the assaults indicate that defendant would monitor the victims prior to assaulting them. The victims were pursued by defendant prior to the attack as they left or returned to their homes."

In this case, Wiebrand is charged with two counts of stalking.

3rd case

In the new third case in which Wiebrand is charged happened on Sept. 12, 2019, the complaint says. Police were dispatched to a parking lot on the 600 block of 10th Avenue in southeast Minneapolis on a report of an attempted sexual assault. Officers spoke with the victim who said she was sitting in her car waiting for it to warm up when a man flug open the driver's side door, covered her mouth and told her to get into the backseat of the car, the complaint says. 

The victim began honking the horn and screaming, at which point the man fled, the complaint states. A witness at the scene said he saw the man looking into cars in the parking lot before he came outside, and then he returned five minutes later and attacked the victim in her parked car. 

DNA swaps from the victim's face matched Wiebrand's known sample, the complaint says.

In this case, Wiebrand is charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct, criminal sexual predatory conduct and false imprisonment.

4th case

The fourth set of charges filed May 7 are related to an incident that happened on March 1 of this year. Minneapolis Police officers were dispatched to an apartment complex located on the 700 block of 8th Avenue in southeast Minneapolis on a report of an attempted sexual assault, the complaint says.

Officers responded and spoke with the victim who said she was taking the recycling out in a fenced-in area and noticed someone walking toward her. The victim thought it was another resident and ignored them. When she turned her back, the man grabbed her from behind, preventing her from running away. The victim screamed, said she went “limp” and fell to the ground. The man fled the scene and the victim called 911, the complaint says.

DNA from the victim's face was compared against Wiebrand's known sample and was found to be a match, the complaint says. He is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, criminal sexual predatory conduct and false imprisonment in this case.